Painting Nails

[cajuntank]

I only have one dog (poodle) so far that I paint the nails. I am not very good at it. They always seem sloppy. Any tips?

[SpikeyTheYorkie]

I only have one dog (poodle) so far that I paint the nails. I am not very good at it. They always seem sloppy. Any tips?

I used to groom this teeny tiny white poodle--darling little brat she was! She got groomed every 2 weeks, and with that came a quick coat of nail polish. It doesn't have to be perfect, (although it's easier to notice on the standard poodles), but just a quick application covering MOST of the nail is fine. Everytime this dog came in I would apply a quick re-coat and that would do it.

Tammy in Utah

[diamienono]

Here is the best tip, Throw the polish in the garbage lol.

[Maggy]

If she lets you, do one paw at a time and hold it until it dries, try to go slow but if she's wiggley there's not much you can do.

[rapuzzled]

I noticed it's a poodle. Does he get clean feet? That right there will help. I get a little impatient with painting toe nails. I find that the best thing to getting a nice smooth polish is to have a dryer. I use either the stand dryer, or even a regular old blow dryer will work (just be careful with the heat).

[cajuntank]

Polish Remover

When you reapply polish, do you first take off the old? Remover smells sooooooo strong to us humans, I can't imagine what it is like for the little doggies!

[Tim]

When i went to school i was the only man in class so i was given the job of painting nails. I said i would never do that in my shop and in 20 years i have yet to paint my first nail.

[Cosette]

I didn't have any desire to paint nails either until I attended a seminar at the Groom Classic a few years ago being taught by the lady who owns Bardel Bows. She did a slideshow presentation and showed several photos of creative ways she uses nail polish.

For example:
* Painting the nails pink and adding a white strip of nail polish across the tip of the nails for a french manicure.
* Painting the nails red and adding white stripes to look like candy canes at Christmas time.
* Painting the nails a solid color and using a different color to add polka dots.
* Painting red, white, and blue stripes for 4th of July.
* Using clear nail polish on white nails or black nail polish on black nails to add a nice shine.

I left the trade show with a bag full of nail polish and couldn't wait to start experimenting on my clients' dogs. My clients love it, especially kids who always seem excited to see what color I've painted their dogs' nails this time.

Unfortunately, I've since discovered that Bardel's nail polish isn't my favorite. The nail polish brush is too thick for smaller dogs, and I ended up having to throw away most of the bottles, because the nail polish turned thick and gooey.

Instead, I prefer the tiny bottles of nail polish sold at Sally's Beauty Supply. The brush is the perfect size for small dogs, and I'm able to use most, if not all of the polish, before it accumulates too much hair or becomes gooey. I also like the Davis and Pet Edge brands of nail polish for the same reasons.

I paint over any old polish still on the nails instead of removing it, and I use a blow dryer to speed up the drying time.
Sheri

[SpikeyTheYorkie]

I, too, paint right over the old polish.

Tammy in Utah

[FozEBear]

I polish a lot of nails and have always used PetEdge's "ColorPaw" nail polish. I reordered about 10 colors recently and they have evidently changed the formula. It is too transparent and doesn't cover well. The old stuff would paint a black nail fire engine red in one coat. The new polish doesn't seem to cover well at all. What other brands are you guys using?

I ordered Ryans some years ago and it was too thick and gooey.

[ssrinc5]

Here is the best tip, Throw the polish in the garbage lol.

LOL!!
I thought polishing dog's nails went out of fashion in the late '80s...
Along w/bell bottom jeans, peasant blouses, army surplus backpacks,
chucks, tie-dyed t-shirts...

The trick is to put on the polish right after the bath, while the dog is still wet. Just throw a towel on the table, place dog on towel, and paint away!
This way, the whole nail can be exposed easily, and mistakes are a snap to fix. Dry nails as suggested in the above posts.

[pawsforthought]

Removal is a pain in the tail!

I painted little Sassy's (toy Poodle-Apricot) nails like candy corn on halloween.
Touched it up for Thanksgiving. Well come time for her Christmas groom I had to get those layers off. It took forever!! She started to fall asleep while I was dabbing away.
I did my weimie's nails with OPI's irridecent aqua. I thought she would look smart by the pool. Their polish is thin and I had to do two coats. I then thought I would kick it up a notch. I top coated her nails with Davis' Glo-in-the-Dark polish. I was disappointed because they didn't glow. Well we were driving back from New Orleans and stopped at a gas station that had really bright lights over the pump area. I took her out to let her pee then we stood around in the well lit area waiting for my husband to "you know".
I'm driving along the highway and I look back at her to see if she is sleeping. She is sitting like a lawn ornament in the back seat in the dark and her sixteen toenails are all glowing green. Cracked me up. I had forgotten all about the Glow stuff since it had been a few weeks since I had done it.
I don't push the polish. I am slow enough just getting them looking good.

[c.c.]

I've heard you can get a neat job by poking the nails through an old nylon (who has one of those?lol) or similar fabric. I paint my poodle's nails and have found that PRACTICE makes the job easier. I don't do any clients nails, no one ever asked and I don't want to encourage it (I have enough fun just cutting the nails!!!!). Occasionally, I'll put pink polish on my golden, he's into cross dressing.

[barknpurr]

Try your dremmel!

I find that if the nail polish is not off by the next groom, I can easily tap the nail with the dremmel and get the old stuff off. Most of the time, I just go right over the top with the new color.

[Wisconsin]

Diamie, I'm with you. I tried a couple times and the stuff never dried. When it finally did, you could hardly tell I had done it. I had some polish the shop ordered and it seemed too thin so that's probably part of the problem. Maybe I should try a new brand or maybe not.

When you do add this service, is it a flat charge or a certain percentage of the groom that you add on?